Whether it's running an online-only store or adding online shopping to an established brick-and-mortar business or even taking the first step into the digital world, web sales are necessary. Shoppers cite numerous reasons for their online shopping preferences, including that it saves them time, makes comparing prices easy, doesn't require fighting through crowded stores and provides a larger variety of items to purchase.

Businesses have two main options for selling goods online: run their own e-commerce websites or sell their goods in an established online marketplace. To run their own e-commerce sites, businesses need several critical services and pieces of software. Among the most important are a web hosting service, shipping and payment integrations. This guide will walk you through such important parts to build an online store.

Product to sell:

Most importantly, small business owners need something they can sell. The good news is that with the internet, this can be basically anything. Big or small, expensive or cheap, any item can be sold online. Also, since the business is run online, e-commerce owners have the option of selling digital goods that can be downloaded to a customer's computer or mobile device.

Unique Domain name:

Before a small business can start building an e-commerce website, it needs a domain name. This is the online address at which shoppers can find the business's website. Most online business domain names end in either ".com" or ".net." The domain name should match the business's name as closely as possible.

Just like your business name, a domain name is your unique identifier for consumers. Apart from guiding them to your online store, the right domain name can also improve brand recall and awareness, and also helps to build trust. Try to generate domain names that are unique, descriptive real words, short.

This is the primary domain. It’s what customers see in the address bar and Google searches. Think of your domain name like the sign that hangs above a real-life high street store - https://www.apple.com

Efficient Web hosting service:

An online store will need a web hosting service to publish the website online. These services store the data files that make up websites, and then upload those files to the web for viewing by site visitors through official domain names.

Build your Website:

The website serves as a business's online home. The site, which can be created with the help of best ecommerce developers, must feature the products the business wants to sell and offer a way to sell those items directly to consumers. The website's customized design should encourage shoppers to stay and make purchases.

Also on Mobile:

How many sites do you visit on mobile that have a seamless shopping-to-checkout experience? If 50% of spending is going to be on smartphones, let’s just say their phone is going to be the literal touchpoint connected to all different types of interactions, all over the funnel. Your website needs to be optimized for mobile, meaning it dynamically changes size and layout for easy browsing on smaller screens. You can also build a special app that customers can download from respective app stores.

Shopping cart integration:

To sell items from an e-commerce website to customers, you need shopping cart integration. These programs give shoppers the chance to search the business's inventory to see what's available, select items they want to purchase and eventually buy them. In addition to assisting with transactions, many shopping cart integration options include features for controlling inventory, setting up shipping and calculating taxes automatically.

Merchant services provider:

Since online businesses can't accept cash payments via the website, they need a merchant services provider to handle their credit and debit card needs. It processes the payments and takes the money from a credit card account and places it into the business's account, also known as a merchant account. Most merchant service providers offer this type of bank account, which acts as a holding location for the debit and credit card payments an e-commerce business collects. Once the funds have been approved, the merchant services provider like Razorpay transfers the money, minus a commission, to the business owner's bank account. Without a merchant services provider, a small business has no way of collecting money from customers.

Next, you need to figure out how new products will reach owners. Effective ecommerce shipping partners like shiprocket are critically important because 56% of consumers will not buy from a retailer after a bad delivery experience. So be sure to sort all the ends.

Test, Live and Market:

Before taking a website on a live platform, test an overall website with help of the best quality assurance expert for efficient working of an online store.

Develop a pre-launch promotion strategy for virtual visitors to attract them to your site. Without a carefully thought-out plan, turning a profit becomes much more difficult. Various marketing options online businesses have at their disposal include SEO, ppc advertising, and email and social media and influencer marketing campaigns. Your website should have links to the business's social media pages. Similarly, initiate a first order discount to start building your audience.

2 Examples of Successful Online Stores

Wondering how other entrepreneurs survived the journey of creating their online stores? Here are two inspirational stories from our customers.

1. Palii Essentials

Palii Essentials is a plant based extracted essential oils with medicinal benefits that gives experience of aromatherapy. We loved the passion of Palii to educate and make people aware about medicinal benefits of persistently using essential oils into their daily regime, so we joined the path with our passion of e-commerce website to celebrate the richness of herbs.

2. Evolve Essential

Women are the better half of this world. Evolve takes the ‘Evolution’ of female hygiene, with an eco-friendly range of products that lifts up a woman's soul during some dull days, with a big smile to ‘Heal you Naturally’. With Evolve’s unique move to serve the Women-kind and Mother earth at the same time, we at AccreteIT creatively crafted a custom themed E-commerce website.

Despite the stunning statistics and reasons, nearly half of Indian businesses still don’t have an e-commerce website – which means now is the perfect time to sit down, power up, and get building. You just need to select a “fit for purpose” ecommerce developer, set up your product catalog, tweak design and other configurations and then dial up on marketing!